World Cup Plzen – Katie Compton, Niels Albert Take Muddy Wins as Crashes Dissapoint Nys and Powers UPDATED: Gallery, Results

PLZEN, CZECH REPUBLIC – On a chilly, muddy course Katie Compton (Trek) overcame early difficulties to claw her way back to a lead group containing Helen Wyman (Kona), Sanne van Paassen (Rabobank), Nikki Harris (Telenet-Fidea),  Hanka Kupfernagel (Rusvelo), and Sanne Cant (BKCP). Compton then took to the lead, and by the end of the race had shed all her competitors. With slippery mud, the legendary strength-sapping stairs, and difficult turns, this was a race against the course more than against competitors, and Compton proved best equipped to take Plzen on. The United Kingdom’s Helen Wyman rode a consistent, confident race, and grabbed second. Nikki Harris narrowly held onto third as Sanne van Paassen and Hanka Kupfernagel sprinted behind her, with van Paassen taking the fourth place slot. American Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld) took 18th, followed by Amy Dombroski (Telenet-Fidea) in 21st, Maureen Bruno Roy (Bob’s Red Mill) in 23rd, and longtime Cyclocross Magazine correspondent Christine Vardaros (Baboco) in 28th.

In the Junior men’s race, American Logan Owen (Redline) took an impressive third place behind winner Mathieu van Der Poel, who dominated the race pole to pole. Belgian Quinten Hermans, who took second, did his best to follow, but could not keep the wheel of the world champion. This is Owen’s second top five placement in as many races, and van Der Poel’s second win. Zach McDonald (Rapha-Focus) also had a strong race, taking 13th in the U23 category behind Belgium’s Wietse Bosmans. Michael Vanthourenhout took the hole shot and the early lead, but in the second lap, Bosmans took over and slowly extended his lead for the duration of the race. Even a crash after trying to jump over the barriers didnt hurt him. World cup leader Mike Teunissen suffered a mechanical at the start, but still managed to chase from last position to finish sixth on the day.

In the men’s race, American Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus) took a hard dive in the first corner, hitting pavement and being slow to get back on his bike as the field continued on. With the slippery, technically challenging conditions, the race at the front quickly separated, with Sven Nys  (Landbouwkrediet) and Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) proving the most adept at handling the conditions. By the second lap, the two rivals had created daylight between themselves and chasers Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor), Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea), and Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor) pursuing behind. For a moment, it looked as if the duo would spend the race attacking and covering each other. However, even the best can falter, and today Sven Nys continued his World Cup bad luck as he took a spill on a slippery descent, knocking his front wheel out of alignment. As Nys fell back a handful of places, Albert was left alone to fly. The world champion rode a clean race, cautiously expanding his lead and taking his first World Cup win of the season.

Behind him, Klaas Vantornout took a commanding second place finish, using his long legs to distance himself from teammate Kevin Pauwels on the 27 stair-steps heading into the finishing corners. The two had spent much of the race trading positions, with Pauwels looking stronger earlier on, but eventually fading in light of a course that clearly favored the runners. However, knowing that Pauwels has a better stake in the overall standings, Vantornout soft-pedaled the finish, looking behind him, in the hopes that Pauwels could catch back on and take silver. An impressive ride by Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea), however, forced Vantornout over the line as Peeters and Pauwels sprinted for third, with Peeters coming out on top. The effort was for naught, however, as Peeters was disqualified for riding through the pit without dismounting, thus moving Pauwels into third. Tom Meeusen took fourth, with Bart Wellens and then Sven Nys following behind.

The third place finish would have been one of Peeters’ best placements, and the Telenet-Fidea rider was less than pleased with his disqualification. “I definitely did a stop-and-go. I was very good today. I was going to stand on the podium,” he said.

After recovering from his crash, Jeremy Powers set about to make the best of his disappointing start, but instead suffered a race-ending mechanical. “I got something in my cogs…which snapped my hanger off with two laps to go right at the start/finish,” Powers said on his Facebook page. “I hate dropping out of races, an event like today’s race for me and the team takes a lot of time and energy…not to mention money. So it’s a raw deal. It’s not a pity party though, I’m alive and well…just need a couple days to get back to the States and get my rhythm going again!”

BART HAZEN GALLERIES:

Elite Men:

Elite Women:

U23:

Juniors:

Thomas van Bracht Galleries:

Elite Men

Elite Women:

FULL RESULTS:

2012 World Cup Plzen Elite Men

Rank	Name	Nat.	Result
1	Niels ALBERT	BEL	1:08:26
2	Klaas VANTORNOUT	BEL	1:09:02
3	Kevin PAUWELS	BEL	1:09:11
4	Tom MEEUSEN	BEL	1:09:20
5	Bart WELLENS	BEL	1:09:35
6	Sven NYS	BEL	1:09:57
7	Bart AERNOUTS	BEL	1:10:40
8	Francis MOUREY	FRA	1:11:11
9	Thijs VAN AMERONGEN	NED	1:11:24
10	Julien TARAMARCAZ	SUI	1:11:30
11	Enrico FRANZOI	ITA	1:11:38
12	Dieter VANTHOURENHOUT	BEL	1:11:47
13	Gerben DE KNEGT	NED	1:11:53
14	Radomir SIMUNEK	CZE	1:12:11
15	Egoitz MURGOITIO REKALDE	ESP	1:12:16
16	Twan VAN DEN BRAND	NED	1:12:29
17	Jim AERNOUTS	BEL	1:12:41
18	Thijs AL	NED	1:12:48
19	Marcel WILDHABER	SUI	1:12:54
20	Niels WUBBEN	NED	1:13:10
21	Patrick VAN LEEUWEN	NED	1:13:18
22	Martin BINA	CZE	1:13:27
23	Lars VAN DER HAAR	NED	1:13:33
24	Petr DLASK	CZE	1:13:44
25	Simon ZAHNER	SUI	1:13:45
26	Philipp WALSLEBEN	GER	1:13:45
27	Mariusz GIL	POL	1:13:54
28	Nicolas BAZIN	FRA	1:14:02
29	Christoph PFINGSTEN	GER	1:14:11
30	Mitchell HUENDERS	NED	1:14:23
31	Arnaud GRAND	SUI	1:14:34
32	Jonathan PAGE	USA	1:14:55
33	Jiri POLNICKY	CZE	1:14:59
34	Guillaume PERROT	FRA	1:15:11
35	Ian FIELD	GBR	1:15:21
36	David KASEK	CZE	1:15:31
37	Sascha WEBER	GER	1:16:01
38	Arnaud JOUFFROY	FRA	1:16:11
39	Lubomir PETRUS	CZE	1:16:33
40	Milan BARENYI	SVK
41	Marco PONTA	ITA
42	Ondrej BAMBULA	CZE
43	Vladimir KYZIVAT	CZE
44	Vaclav METLICKA	SVK
45	Matthieu BOULO	FRA
46	Robert GAVENDA	SVK
47	Mirko TABACCHI	ITA
48	Marcel MEISEN	GER
49	Marco BIANCO	ITA
50	Martin HARING	SVK
51	Cristian COMINELLI	ITA

2012 World Cup Plzen Elite Women

Rank	Name	Nat.	Result
1	Katherine COMPTON	USA	41:18:00
2	Helen WYMAN	GBR	41:33:00
3	Nikki HARRIS	GBR	41:47:00
4	Sanne VAN PAASSEN	NED	41:48:00
5	Hanka KUPFERNAGEL	GER	41:50:00
6	Jasmin ACHERMANN	SUI	42:18:00
7	Sanne CANT	BEL	42:45:00
8	Lucie CHAINEL-LEFEVRE	FRA	43:07:00
9	Gabriella DAY	GBR	43:17:00
10	Pavla HAVLIKOVA	CZE	43:38:00
11	Christel FERRIER-BRUNEAU	FRA	43:40:00
12	Sophie DE BOER	NED	44:23:00
13	Marlène MOREL PETITGIRARD	FRA	44:39:00
14	Sabrina SCHWEIZER	GER	44:46:00
15	Vania ROSSI	ITA	44:51:00
16	Arenda GRIMBERG	NED	45:03:00
17	Julie KRASNIAK	FRA	45:06:00
18	Kaitlin ANTONNEAU	USA	45:08:00
19	Joyce VANDERBEKEN	BEL	45:18:00
20	Annefleur KALVENHAAR	NED	45:31:00
21	Amy DOMBROSKI	USA	46:16:00
22	Caroline MANI	FRA	46:35:00
23	Maureen BRUNO ROY	USA	46:44:00
24	Alice Maria ARZUFFI	ITA	47:11:00
25	Ellen VAN LOY	BEL	47:46:00
26	Francesca CAUZ	ITA	48:06:00
27	Margriet Helena KLOPPENBURG	DEN	48:10:00
28	Christine VARDAROS	USA	48:33:00
29	Martina MIKULASKOVA	CZE	48:45:00
30	Nancy BOBER	BEL	49:02:00
31	Tereza MEDVEDOVA	SVK	49:08:00
32	Karla STEPANOVA	CZE
33	Nadja HEIGL	AUT

2012 World Cup Plzen U23

Rank	Name	Nat.	Result
1	Wietse BOSMANS	BEL	52:20:00
2	Wout VAN AERT	BEL	52:39:00
3	Michael VANTHOURENHOUT	BEL	52:54:00
4	David VAN DER POEL	NED	53:15:00
5	Corne VAN KESSEL	NED	53:33:00
6	Mike TEUNISSEN	NED	53:42:00
7	Tijmen EISING	NED	53:52:00
8	Michael (JR) SCHWEIZER	GER	53:57:00
9	Gianni VERMEERSCH	BEL	54:03:00
10	Karel HNIK	CZE	54:06:00
11	Matej LASAK	CZE	54:18:00
12	Laurens SWEECK	BEL	54:45:00
13	Zach MCDONALD	USA	55:16:00
14	Yannick ECKMANN	GER	55:17:00
15	Michael BOROS	CZE	55:21:00
16	Gert-Jan BOSMAN	NED	55:30:00
17	Fabien DOUBEY	FRA	55:34:00
18	Jakub SKALA	CZE	55:56:00
19	Emiel DOLFSMA	NED	56:04:00
20	Tomas PAPRSTKA	CZE	56:05:00
21	Lukas MÜLLER	SUI	56:28:00
22	Fabian LIENHARD	SUI	56:38:00
23	Julian ALAPHILIPPE	FRA	56:51:00
24	Jonas PEDERSEN	DEN	56:58:00
25	Radek POLNICKY	CZE	57:03:00
26	Lars FORSTER	SUI	57:10:00
27	Loic DOUBEY	FRA	57:26:00
28	Cody KAISER	USA	57:48:00
29	Vojtech NIPL	CZE	57:49:00
30	Luca BRAIDOT	ITA	58:01:00
31	Jens ADAMS	BEL	58:10:00
32	Clément VENTURINI	FRA	58:28:00
33	Toni BRETSCHNEIDER	GER	59:12:00
34	Jonathan LASTRA MARTINEZ	ESP	59:22:00
35	Severin SAGESSER	SUI	59:33:00
36	Ondrej GLAJZA	SVK	1:00:50
37	Felix DRUMM	GER
38	Yannick MAYER	GER
39	Johannes SIEMERMANN	GER
40	Kamil WOLKIEWICZ	POL

 

2012 World Cup Plzen Juniors

Rank	Name	Nat.	Result
1	Mathieu VAN DER POEL	NED	42:21:00
2	Quinten HERMANS	BEL	43:33:00
3	Logan OWEN	USA	44:19:00
4	Gioele BERTOLINI	ITA	44:27:00
5	Nicolas CLEPPE	BEL	44:48:00
6	Martijn BUDDING	NED	45:05:00
7	Ben BOETS	BEL	45:11:00
8	Karel POKORNY	CZE	45:19:00
9	Kobe GOOSSENS	BEL	45:30:00
10	Clement RUSSO	FRA	45:40:00
11	Thomas JOSEPH	BEL	46:15:00
12	Elie GESBERT	FRA	46:30:00
13	Curtis WHITE	USA	46:33:00
14	Bjorn VAN DER HEIJDEN	NED	46:38:00
15	Richard JANSEN	NED	46:57:00
16	Benoit COSNEFROY	FRA	47:18:00
17	Marco KÖNIG	GER	47:22:00
18	Adam TOUPALIK	CZE	47:28:00
19	Michal PALUTA	POL	47:29:00
20	Simon VOZAR	SVK	47:30:00
21	Moreno PELLIZZON	ITA	47:42:00
22	Lukas MEILER	GER	48:09:00
23	Filip KUBIN	CZE	48:43:00
24	Adrian AUERBACHER	GER	48:50:00
25	Dominik VRANA	CZE	49:03:00
26	Roman LEHKY	CZE	49:18:00
27	Karel SVRCINA	CZE	49:35:00
28	Kamil MALECKI	POL	49:50:00
29	Martin DEJMEK	CZE	50:17:00
30	Lukasz MANSKI	POL
31	Piotr RZESZUTEK	POL
32	Manuel TODARO	ITA
33	Jakub HONZIK	CZE
34	Juraj BELLAN	SVK
35	Justin RUDOLPH	GER
36	Manuel MÜLLER	GER
37	David ZVERKO	SVK
38	Magnus SKJOTH	DEN
39	Sebastian CANECKY	SVK